Nothing easy this time for Heat in 118-108 loss in Dallas, as Powell sits out

DALLAS — Even after Monday night’s 3-for-all against the Los Angeles Clippers, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra knew the 3-pointers were going to be harder to come by on Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks.

So, no, there was no easy button in this one, at least for the visiting team, nothing like Monday’s 24 of 46 from beyond the arc.

Instead, for the second time in a week against the Mavericks, 3-pointers and points in general were hard to come by for the Heat, this time resulting in a 118-108 loss at American Airlines Center.

Last week, in defeating the Mavericks at Kaseya Center, the Heat found a way despite closing 5 of 27 on 3-pointers.

This time, it was 11 of 37 from beyond the arc, not enough to offset Dallas’ 16 of 32.

And so one game after 140 points against the Clippers, again forced to play in the mud against the Mavericks, with little in the way of offense beyond 22 points from Kel’el Ware, 21 from Bam Adebayo and 20 from Tyler Herro, all in the first half. Ware also had 10 rebounds.

The Mavericks this time had Anthony Davis back after he was out last week with a calf strain. He closed with 17 points and 17 rebounds. Emerging Mavericks rookie guard Ruben Nembhard, who began his emergence last week against the Heat, added 15 points and 13 assists.

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday night’s game:

1. Game flow: The Heat led 33-28 after the first quarter, with Herro scoring 12 in the period.

Both teams went for extended stretches with zone defense, with the difference being the Mavericks converting their 3-point attempts, putting them up 64-54 at halftime.

Then, when the Mavericks pushed their lead to 17 in the third quarter, it was their largest lead of the season to that stage, with Dallas taking a 93-80 lead into the fourth.

Through it all, the Heat moved within seven midway through the fourth quarter, sparked by backup point guard Dru Smith.

A driving Adebayo layup later brought the Heat within 110-106 with 2:54 to play, but that’s when the rally stalled.

2. Herro early: With Powell out and with Andrew Wiggins limited to a 1-of-7 start, the keys to the offense were handed to Herro, who offered an effective balance of floaters and 3-pointers in the first half, on the way to 20 points over the first two periods.

With that effort, Herro extended his career-best streak of games with at least 20 points to 15, dating to last season. Herro’s previous longest such steak was seven.

Herro shot 8 of 12 in the first half, with the balance of the Heat 11 of 41. The problem was after a 20-point first half, Herro did not score again.

Since returning from September ankle surgery, Herro has scored 24, 29, 24, 22 and then Wednesday night’s effort.

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3. Rotation revision: With Powell held out, the Heat not only got Pelle Larsson back after he was sidelined for the second half on Monday night by a foot sprain, but Larsson was in the starting lineup. It was Larsson’s 16th start of the season.

It was the fifth absence of the season for Powell, who missed four previous games with groin strains.

“He’s not quite ready to play,” Spoelstra said, “so we think more treatment will be more helpful.”

The starting lineup was rounded out by Herro, Wiggins, Adebayo and Davion Mitchell, which kept Ware in reserve.

As for the remainder of the rotation, Spoelstra primarily went with a bench unit of Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Simone Fontecchio and Smith.

Ware then played as a closer in place of Larsson.

4. But then . . .: Held out three games ago and then limited to one minute of mop-up duty on Monday night, Nikola Jovic got a chance to play as 10th man, as the Heat offense sputtered beyond Herro.

Jovic entered for the first time with 6:07 left in the second period and played the balance of the half, going scoreless.

He did not return in the second half, as his tumble from the rotation continues.

5. Orlando squared: Up next is the first of two games in Orlando over a five-day span.

Friday night’s game at Kia Center will be a mundane regular-season game, with Tuesday night’s game an NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup, for the right to advance to Las Vegas for the semifinals of the in-season tournament. (Both of the matchups will count toward the regular-season standings.)

The Heat lost their season opener in Orlando 125-121 on Oct. 22, with the upcoming matchups giving the Heat three games in Orlando by Dec. 9.